Act and rule utilitarianism essay

Act and rule utilitarianism essay Act and rule utilitarianism: problems In accordance with the utilitarianism definition, if any action gives a human much more happiness and joy compared to other actions, then this action is morally right. For example, we can compare two actions: charity work and watching movie at home. Its not so hard to say that a human would get more happiness and pleasure making charity work than to watching a movie. So, as stated by this theory, the right thing would be to make charity work instead of watching a movie because the first action would bring more happiness. Needless to say this theory has been criticized a lot, because for cruel or sadist people tormenting and killing others may be the spring of joy and great happiness. In accordance with this theory principles, they would do the right thing, so it comes to the point that a theory of act utilitarianism could justify crime. Another thing is how to calculate the happiness a person may get during their actions. In some situations, it may be very hard to understand which action will bring more utility in contrast with another. Rule utilitarianism proclaims that the action can be right only if match a certain rule that leads to great happiness. For the first sign, this theory seems much better compared with act utilitarians point of view, but we know that sometimes actions that break rules can give more utility. This option is not available in the theory of rule utilitarianism because according to their point of view, breaking rules is an action against morality. Its possible to compare these two theories with a stop sign and yield sign on the road. The first sign characterizes the rule utilitarian theory: it just force drivers to stop without allowing them to value if its good to stop now or to drive forward. The yield sign gives the drivers a choice if they really need to stop, its like the act utilitarian theory. Needless to say that according to act utilitarians, the stop sign is too tough because the drivers are required to stop even when there is no danger on road from oncoming vehicles. We can see that both theories have their positive and negative sides. Both act and rule utilitarianism are too extreme and based on different things: first theory allows people to break the law, when the second gives them possibility to act in accordance with rules, without any kind of breaking.